CDBites: Green Day, Bruno Mars

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Green Day “Uno,” “Dos” and “Tre” (Reprise Records)

As record sales continue to wane, one has to wonder the logic behind separately releasing a trilogy of albums over the course of three months. Maybe when you’re a punk band coming off a pair of hugely successful concept albums turned into a Broadway smash, you do things a little differently. Still, it’s an unusual way to release your ninth, tenth and eleventh studio albums.

“Tre,” the final installment of the trilogy, out this week, is a bit more diverse than the others, with a slightly mellower and more mature sound that embraces a variety of styles. Imagine 1997’s “Nimrod,” but with more songs like “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).” Look no further than the opening and closing tracks to sum it up. There’s the country blues-inspired “Brutal Love” to start, and the piano ballad “The Forgotten” to end.

While a common thread runs through the trilogy, each record is distinctly different.

The first, “Uno,” returns the band to their pre-”American Idiot” sound with a dozen rocking songs that are melodic and highly energetic. The songs are also more mature, with themes like married men on the brink of infidelity. Standout tracks on this riffy guitar assault include “Fell For You” and “Oh Love.”

“Dos” attempts to capture the no-frills sound of a garage rock band, but feels like a drop-off after “Uno.” Some of the tracks work well, namely, “Stray Heart” and “Lady Cobra,” but others don’t fire on all cylinders.

Overall, this last installment of the trilogy shows another direction of the band’s evolution.

CHECK OUT THESE TRACKS: The best of “Uno,” “Dos” and “Trois” is “Carpe Diem” “Stray Heart,” and “99 Revolutions,” respectively.

— John Carucci, Associated Press

Bruno Mars, “Unorthodox Jukebox” (Atlantic Records)

Bruno Mars likes to mix it up. Almost every song on his second album dabbles in a different genre

The 27-year-old singer-songwriter-producer shows growing sophistication, musically and lyrically, on “Unorthodox Jukebox,” a retro-pop collection of 10 tracks with elements of rock, funk, country and reggae. There’s even a heartbreaking piano ballad.

Mars hinted at his versatility on his 2010 debut, “Doo-Wops & Hooligans,” a set of love songs that yielded the hit singles “Grenade” and “Just the Way You Are,” which won a Grammy Award.

He draws from a broader range of musical influences here, recalling Michael Jackson, Parliament and even The Police. And there’s still love, but also lots of sex.

He channels Prince on “Gorilla,” all prowess and desire. “You got your legs up in the sky,” Mars sings. “You know what I like. You’re a dirty little lover.”

He proclaims “your sex takes me to paradise” on the `80s-tinged single “Locked Out of Heaven.” And on the island-style reggae tune “Show Me,” he urges his lover: “You say you’re a woman who knows what she likes, then show me.”

But a man cannot live on sex alone.

The heartfelt “If I Knew” is reminiscent of a gently country “Teen Angel,” and Mars is at his best on the bare piano ballad “When I Was Your Man.”

“My pride, my ego, my needs and my selfish ways caused a good, strong woman like you to walk out my life,” he sings, full of regret. “No I’ll never get to clean up the mess I made and it haunts me every time I close my eyes.”

CHECK OUT THIS TRACK: The funky “Treasure” is the grooviest tune on the album.